The Buttermarket – RIBA Competition Award

THE BUTTERMARKET – RIBA COMPETITION AWARD Competition Brief was to redesign the old Butter Market in Hereford High Town with a view to suggest how the market could be used in a more flexible way which would give it a long-term sustainable future.
Client: Hereford Futures Ltd
Status: Competition Finalist
Location: High Town, Hereford
Value: Projected £8m
Date: 2011
Project Management: Quarterbridge Ltd
Categories: Leisure / Retail
Tags: Commercial, Competition, Conservation / Heritage, Finalist, Hereford, Herefordshire, Hightown, Leisure Retail, Masterplan, Restaurant

RRA’s Buttermarket entry was designed to establish an over-arching brand identity which would work with existing market-traders, and purveyors of local Herefordshire food heritage, to manage, promote and incubate new visitors and foot fall within this historic Victorian food hall.

RRA, in collaboration with the UK’s leading independant markets agent Quarterbridge, developed an exciting proposal for the upgrade of the existing market hall, to bring about opportunities to upgrade the historic site, whilst allowing existing individual market trading to continue to trade.

Other RIBA competition schemes identified through competitive tendering have subsequently been discounted by Herefordshire Council, and as RRA’s proposal supported and promoted a new Butter Market brand identity and an over-arching urban regeneration initiative, whilst ensuring local offering was all about the promotion of local-produce-products-and-services, it was identified one of as the preferred schemes.

RRA has ensured, through collaboration, that markets exclusivity would be limited and was inclusive for all sectors of society. The RRA proposal offered the Local Authority the experience and the support to set up a Buttermarket management team to aid the buildings redevelopment.

The scheme did not win the competition but was shortlisted to be one of the last two finalists.